What is passion? We all know what physical romantic passion entails, but without the physical and romance, what designates passion. Webster defines it as “a strong feeling of enthusiasm or excitement to some activity, object, or concept.” Or alternatively “an object of desire or deep interest”. The Bible defines it as “suffering”.
So, why am I interested in this word? Well, I was challenged to write a page on my blog about my passion(s). This challenge brought lots of questions to my mind. Is my constant need to stay up on what is happening by reading and watching the news a passion? Or is it just a mere healthy concern?
What about my daily routine of working several online puzzle-type games? Is that a passion? Or is it an addiction? I could write a whole book about my “passion” for games and puzzles. That all started years and years ago in my early childhood, when my brother brought home a pinball machine, fixed it, and set it up in the basement. Once I started to play that thing, I could be there for hours.
Passion with Work
In fact, that “passion” followed me to my workplace. My career was in computer programming, which got me a job working at Atari. This was in the very early days of that company, where most of their products were arcade games. One of the unpaid benefits of that job was access to a game room after hours. All the games were there to play for free. I was single, my son was grown, so my time was my own, and many, many hours were spent in that game room.
The benefits continued when Atari introduced its “home” games and gave employees access to a company store and discounts. I had one of the first Atari home games and all of the individual games thereafter, as they were released.
Actually, as my career advanced with the growth of the computer industry and the first terminal input to the big mainframe computers, my passion to interface with a “machine” made my work almost like a “game”. This intensified with the release of each of the computer’s advancements. The desktop computer, and then the laptops and tablets. With those inventions, I was able to do my work from home. And now, with our smartphones, the ability to access both news and games, on our phone, has only intensified my passion.
Passion Beyond Games
In addition to my daily routine of games, I spend time throughout the day reading the ongoing news. Especially if something special or outstanding is happening, which is the case right now. There has been a kidnapping of an elderly lady from her home in a nearby town. She is the mother of a celebrity newscaster from the Today morning TV show. The news is poppigng with updates almost hourly, and I have become somewhat addicted to this news feed. There is a close relationship between passion and addiction. Addiction carries a negative connotation.
But beyond this current hot news, I have a passion for the ongoing in our Government. With President Trump currently in the Presidency, there is no shortage of news about the President and what’s happening in Washington, D.C. This strong interest goes back amazingly to my very first job with computer programming.
I am not a historian; however, at my age, I have lived through the terms of many presidents. My first memory of a President was Franklin D. Roosevelt when he spoke to the nation via radio about the bombing in Pearl Harbor. I documented that on another page here on my blog. I was only about 7 years old. Following Roosevelt, we had Truman, who was also an interesting president. After the end of World War II, I was busy growing up, going to college, getting married, and having a child before I was even eligible to vote at 21. That was the age limit at that time.
I confess for many years, I was busy working, and raising a son, so spent only a minimal amount of time with governmental interest, but, if you read my life history here on the blog, you’ll find that in 1967, I took some night school programming classes, made a big decision to move from California to Washington, D.C. to try to get a job programming computers.
The first year I was in D.C., I worked for a company that sold broadcasting equipment. That office was one block from the White House and required me to go to the FCC to research people who were either building communication stations or modifying them. I met people who worked for Senators and other agencies, so I became familiar with government workings.
After one year in D.C., interviewing, I finally got that first programming job. It was with a division of Naval Intelligence, and very exciting and very intense with learning. It was so exciting that I don’t think I ever thought much about who was president. Based upon the history books and the date, it was Lyndon Johnson and then Nixon. I do remember some of the Watergate scandal, but I was too busy with my job.
I don’t think I even registered to vote while I lived back there. But I did work with many agencies, including some in the Pentagon. My son also was active in Sea Scouts and with that I got to meet Admiral Zumwalt at a Pentagon reception for the Scouts.
So those five years that I spent in D.C. gave me a good foundation for our government, and I continue to read and try to keep up with what is happening. It’s not a political thing, but an interest in our democracy. I have to admit that I do have some qualms about our current government. I’ve always believed it takes everyone working together to succeed.
I recently saw a posting that reminded us that it takes two wings for a bird to fly. It takes us all on both sides to secure our Democracy.
This year we celebrate our 250th Anniversary of our democratic country. There are some wonderful books available to help us remember and understand what this democracy means. Take a look at just this one.
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